Droves of abandoned cars line streets of Pacific Palisades
When tens of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes at a moment's notice when the Palisades Fire erupted on Tuesday, city streets became extremely congested with lines hundreds of cars deep trying to flee the area.
Hours later, after the blaze began to swell at an uncontrollable rate, countless numbers of those evacuees were forced once again to leave their belongings behind, abandoning their cars in the streets as they ran for safety.
"All of a sudden, we're looking and the fire's right there next to the car," said Sandy Ivanhoe, one of many who had to leave their car on Sunset Boulevard on Tuesday. "Two policemen are running through cars yelling, 'Get out, now!'"
Sandy and her husband Elliot followed orders, leaving their car and everything in it as they headed towards the beach on foot.
Now, with the fire burning farther into the Santa Monica Mountains, they're among the first residents who have started returning to their neighborhoods, many of which are still lined with the charred vehicles that were left behind.
Firefighters were forced to clear way up many roads at the expense of dozens of cars, using a bulldozer to push the vehicles aside and allow their apparatus through.
The Ivanhoe's assumed that they had lost everything they took with them, which they say was the important stuff they grabbed before leaving their home.
However, it was just the opposite.
"I get a call from your station, from a reporter, who says to me, 'I have bad news, your car has been bulldozed,'" Ivanhoe recalled. "I said, 'I don't care, is it on fire? Is the car okay?'"
It turns out that everything was okay, and they were able to retrieve the belongings they were distraught over just hours before.
They weren't the only ones wondering what the fate of their cars were, bulldozed or burned, before returning home on Thursday.
Shelley Wagner had rushed to the area to save her 99-year-old mother when the fire was first reported, both of whom had to ditch the car like the Ivanhoe's. Similarly though, they're back in the driver's seat, taking the immense tragedy in stride as best they can.
"It's like little angels are around," Wagner said. "In the deepest, darkest tragedy, of which there are many to be told in this."
She credits the return of her car to a note that she left on her dashboard, detailing the circumstances of their abandonment and who to call if it survived the fire.
"It was just a bright moment ... in what has been just, really, a terrible, terrible couple of days" she said.
